Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) was a part of a rich socialite family in Newport Beach and she was characterized as the privileged but troubled girl next door. Throughout the series she struggled with alcoholism and depression, as well as a troubled relationship with her family.

Marissa had an on-and-off relationship with Ryan, a rebellious teen from a rough neighborhood. The character of Alex was introduced Season 2 as a high school dropout and the manager at the Bait Shop, a club the main characters visited frequently. Alex became close with Marissa and they flirted and held hands, leading Marissa to question her sexuality. On a highly-publicized Valentine’s Day episode, Marissa went to see Alex at the Bait Shop after an awful dinner with her mother, and they shared their first kiss on the beach. Though Alex felt that Marissa was embarrassed by her because she was reluctant to tell anyone about them, but Marissa eventually told her best friend Summer, making Alex happy. Due to ongoing conflict with her mother, Marissa soon moved in with Alex. However, Alex and Marissa ended up experiencing some problems in their relationship, mainly as Alex thought Marissa still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend, Ryan, and they later broke up over it and she left the show. Marissa referred to Alex as her ex-girlfriend through the rest of the series but show no further interest in women.

Even though The O.C creator Josh Schwartz insisted the Alex and Marissa storyline wasn’t done as a sweeps stunt, many viewers were upset with how it ended and felt differently, claiming Alex seemed out of character and became a jealous psychotic girlfriend out of nowhere in the episodes leading up to the break up. It was not only fans who noticed the convenient timing of the storyline, media outlets such as the New York Post made note of it as well.

Schwartz later had this to say about the abrupt end to the storyline: “The network was very nervous — it was an extremely conservative time in our country and everyone was freaking out. We had a whole episode where every kiss between them was cut out, just so I could get one kiss in the “Rainy Day Women” episode. I was literally on the phone with Broadcast, Standards and Practices bartering for kisses. It was a battle, and The Powers That Be are part of a big corporation, and were going in front of Congress at the time (every network was) — so I understand they are all good people who were under a lot of pressure. But they wanted that story wrapped up as fast as humanly possible and Alex moving on out of the OC.” – Source

In the Season 3 finale, Marissa was in a car crash and died in Ryan’s arms after the two had gotten back together.

Filter Relationship Arc:

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.

Quotes

The network was very nervous — it was an extremely conservative time in our country and everyone was freaking out. We had a whole episode where every kiss between them was cut out, just so I could get one kiss in the “Rainy Day Women” episode. I was literally on the phone with Broadcast, Standards and Practices bartering for kisses.

It was a battle, and The Powers That Be are part of a big corporation, and were going in front of Congress at the time (every network was) — so I understand they are all good people who were under a lot of pressure. But they wanted that story wrapped up as fast as humanly possible and Alex moving on out of the OC.